• Balcony time is an intentional, weekly practice of spending time working on your ministry rather than just in your ministry.
• Often, doing church ministry and other non-profit work can feel like putting out one fire after another and prioritizing what feels urgent over what feels important.
• Balcony time helps alleviate those issues by increasing the intentional time spent on vision planning and preventative maintenance.

Imagine you could get an arial view of your ministry. What would you see? Not physically, but what is the 30,000 ft view of what is happening, and coming up, and challenging, and successful in your ministry. That’s exactly what the practice of balcony time will give you. How would you operate differently if you sat in the balcony and looked over the edge to see what is happening, what just happened, and what is coming up without putting out fires, responding to emails, ordering supplies, and just generally making it all happen?

I’ll tell you how this affects me, personally. When I spend this strategic time weekly, I don’t wake up at night wondering what I’ve forgotten or who I will disappoint. I have a confidence in knowing that I’ve looked at everything and the important tasks have landed on a list that guides me throughout the week. Then, when emergencies happen, I can make a conscious choice about what can be deleted, delegated, or postponed.

How Balcony Time Works:

1. Find a place and time where you will be free from distraction. If you can, make this a weekly appointment on your calendar, and guard that time.
2. Create a Master Task List. This is a mix of the great ideas and urgent tasks that swirl around in your head throughout the week. Tame them by putting them on paper.
   • Write down everything you can think of, from the down-the-road ideas to immediate and urgent tasks
   • Add projects with just a name or break down these large ideas into their minute details. This list is yours and whatever helps you move your tasks from swirling around your head to having a place on paper, write it that way.
3. Use your weekly balcony time to review and Update your Master Task List.
   • Read emails (but don’t respond right now) capture all tasks on your Master Task List. Appropriately file or flag emails so that you can respond later.
   • Review your calendar for the upcoming week (and add tasks to your Master and Weekly Task Lists as necessary).
4. Prioritize any unpleasant tasks and determine when you will complete them.
5. Dream and pray over the Master Task List and then pick a limited number of items to put on this week’s Weekly Task List.
   • Ask what needs to be accomplished in your ministry this week and for your ministry this week.
   • Ask what else can be accomplished in the remaining time you have available so that you’re intentionally planning to have time for other people and places, too.
6. Create Today’s Task List.
7. Give yourself permission to be content with the week you have planned, and let the other tasks on your list wait patiently for their turn.
8. Review next week’s schedule and make sure you have a slot for your balcony time
9. Spend a few more minutes dreaming and praying for your ministry

Establishing the habit of weekly balcony time is a strategy that will give you space and confidence to rise above task management and get into a regular rhythm of dreaming and praying about what is next for your ministry.

The post Balcony Time: The Weekly Practice That Can Take You From Task Management to Visionary Planning appeared first on Ministry Architects.

The really cool thing about my secret is… it’s fun.
That’s it! That’s the secret. FUN.

I make my ministry fun. 
I make work fun. 
I convert household chores into fun. 

It’s like the day I discovered black soy sauce. I put that stuff on everything now! 
(Author’s Note: If you haven’t experienced the sweet, sticky yumminess of black soy sauce, stop reading this blog right now and google it. Better yet, go order it from Amazon right now and then come back to this blog. No need to send me messages of thanks. I’m sending you a preemptive “You’re welcome.”) 

What was I saying? Oh yeah! Fun! I put that on EVERYTHING – and it gives me more energy than any caffeine infusion ever did.

If you, too, could use some more energy in your days, let me share three quick ways to add fun to any ministry, task, or situation. 

1. Be silly. 

This isn’t for every person and every situation but having a little silly in your ministry is often a gift to others. 

• Wear a fake moustache or silly hat to your next meeting. 
• Invent a secret phrase that you and a few others have to use at least 3 times in your next meeting. 
• Wear something really ugly and secretly enjoy everyone’s reactions. 
• Record a 15-minute video of your standard Zoom background view but at the 14-minute mark, poke your head into the frame for 5 seconds. Then use that video as a virtual background in your next Zoom meeting. 

*If you need more silly ideas, ask that one friend you have. You know who they are.

2. Pregame or postgame your fun. 

Let’s face it – there are a lot of things in ministry that are not inherently fun. And if you try to add fun to these not-fun things, it won’t work. It just won’t. 

For example, I can’t affect a southern accent and wear an oversized cowboy hat to officiate at a funeral. (Trust me. I live in the midwest. That move does not go well!) I can, however, take time before or after an energy-depleting task to insert some fun. For me, singing along to my favorite music in the car with animated enthusiasm is easy to insert between appointments. For you, it could be a simple 15-minute diversion of coloring, dancing, or teaching yourself juggling. The purposeful insertion of fun just before or after energy-depleting ministry can be a sort of quick charge for your ministry battery.

3. Just ask. 

The next time you are planning a church event with others, just ask the question “How could we make this more fun?” The great thing about this approach is that you don’t have to come up with the fun all by yourself. You’re outsourcing the fun! It also communicates the value of fun in our ministry work – and that we all need it. Fun ministry is more attractive to the people we serve, probably because it energizes them, too. And, if you are planning something alone, just call up that same fun friend who has the best silly suggestions and ask them how to add some fun to your event.

I once heard fun described as “active Sabbath.” Fun is an action that gives you rest. We have a lot of work ahead of us to be the Church in the coming summer and fall. You could likely use some rest embedded in your work. You could likely use a new way to recharge your batteries. You could likely use some fun. (And maybe some black soy sauce too! That stuff is so good!)

Reverend Rob Dyer is Senior Pastor at First United Presbyterian Church of Belleville, IL. Rob has spent the last several years working in the areas of community missions and leadership development in southern Illinois. He has worked at both the local church levels as well at the regional level bringing churches, businesses, service agencies, and individuals together for addressing hunger and homeless issues. Before becoming a pastor, Rob had a successful career as a software developer and manager working with the Joint Chiefs of Staff at the Pentagon. And many years before that, he was an NCAA college mascot. He is used to organizing large numbers of people for transformative experiences, even if it means putting on a tiger costume. Rob lives in Belleville, IL with his brilliant and supportive wife, Sarah, and their four children.

The post THE Secret to <br />Increasing Your Energy appeared first on Ministry Architects.

To say that this past year has been difficult might feel like a major understatement. It’s been over a year since the world turned upside down. And while this has looked different for each of us, collectively, we have all been experiencing a season of upheaval, changes, transitions, and grief. 

As you have worked in your church and led your ministry, how many times have you felt like you just had to show up for others, even though you also felt like you had nothing left to give? How many times have you tried to pour out something from a place of total emptiness? 

Use your imagination with me for a second and picture yourself as a pitcher of water, filled to the brim. Now, every time you’ve shown care, love, and attention to someone else, watch a little bit of water pour out of the pitcher. Every time a church member has called you on the phone, every sermon you’ve given, every hour you’ve spent on Zoom with your teenagers, visualize a little more water pouring out. Every day you’ve spent trying to work while your kids do virtual school, every committee meeting, every decision-making conversation surrounded by COVID-19, every technology question, all it took to make Holy Week happen…every one of these moments has required you to pour out a little bit of yourself to others. 

It’s all been good and holy work. But it has been work. 

And in a constant state of work, we often forget to rest or take care of ourselves. We forget, that is, until we are well on our way to empty.

As the analogy goes, if you keep pouring water out of your pitcher without pouring anything back in, you are going to run dry. And when that happens, it becomes extremely difficult to pour anything out for anyone else. Including yourself.

But, as followers of Jesus, we’ve got a well that doesn’t run dry. In fact, it overflows. 

What if, instead of pouring out everything we have and refilling only when we are close-to-empty, what if we were a people of overflow? What if we could actually live from a place of living water and abundance – instead of emptiness?  

This is not too good to be true. I believe all we need are a few reminders of regular rhythms and habits that can fill us right back up so that empty does not define who we are or how we are.

Reminder #1: You are a human being, not a human doing. 

There is a reason we are commanded to take a Sabbath and to rest. The rhythm of Sabbath reminds us – each week – that we are human beings, not human doings. Sabbath connects us back to our humanity and reminds us that the world can keep spinning without us. We do a lot of feeling, doing, and thinking throughout the week, but most of us don’t do a lot of just being. 

What does it look like, for you, to just be? To be still and know that there is a God who loves you and sees you? Sabbath exists to remind you that you are a beloved child of God who has worth and value regardless of what you produce. As Shauna Niequist has said, “Sabbath. When we act out our belief that we are not what we do, that our value comes from our createdness, not from what we create.”

Reminder #2: Love yourself well. 

Remember the second greatest commandment Jesus gave us? “Love others as you love yourself.” Jesus didn’t say love others in spite of yourself or instead of yourself or rather than yourself. He said love others AS you love yourself. 

So how are you doing with loving yourself? Most of us in ministry are really good at loving others well. (That is why we do what we do.) But we often forget to love the person that we have to spend the most time with – ourselves! Running ourselves into the ground, not taking a break, and neglecting our own care is not loving ourselves well. But a good first step is acknowledging how you are and what you need, then doing something about it.

Reminder #3: It is okay to turn away from the crowd. 

There may be so many demands for your attention that it seems like there’s just no time to take a break. Well, you want to know who else had demands for their attention and, yet, turned away from a crowd? Jesus. 

Jesus was not a stranger to taking care of Himself. And He did so, even though there were plenty of people who made a really good case for needing Him. “Yet the news about him spread all the more, so that crowds of people came to hear him and to be healed of their sicknesses. But Jesus often withdrew to lonely places and prayed.” (Luke 5:15-16)

Reminder #4: How you care for yourself is unique and it can change. 

How you choose to care for yourself, how you spend your Sabbath, what you decide is life-giving for you and fills your pitcher back up – answers to questions like these may be different for you than they are for others. And that’s okay.

I define self-care as paying attention to what you need and then meeting those needs accordingly. That might mean drinking water when you are thirsty, going to bed early when you are tired, spending time in prayer when you need guidance, or reaching out to a friend when you are lonely. What you need can change on the daily which means what re-energizes you and how your pitcher is filled back up can look different from day-to-day, too. 

Becoming a people of overflow isn’t possible by operating like the rest of the world. But it’s more than possible when we prioritize care and rest just like the One who said:

“Are you tired? Worn out? Burned out on religion? Come to me. Get away with me and you’ll recover your life. I’ll show you how to take a real rest. Walk with me and work with me—watch how I do it. Learn the unforced rhythms of grace. I won’t lay anything heavy or ill-fitting on you. Keep company with me and you’ll learn to live freely and lightly.” (Matthew 11:28-30)

A blessing to you, as you figure out what living from a place of overflow looks like in your world:

May you rest.

May you find peace.

May you welcome abundant life.

May you learn the unforced rhythms of grace.

May you take a moment to remember the world can run without you.

May you take care of the only thing you really have control over… yourself.

May you engage in life-giving things so you can be refilled and live from the overflow.

May you be reminded of your belovedness and feel the warmth of Love’s embrace.

Abby Buter lives in Tacoma, WA although she’s not shy about letting people know of her Michigan roots. After spending time within the nonprofit and marketing worlds, Abby came to find her passion of developing individuals and organizations. She seeks to help individuals, organizations, and churches be healthier and to live into who God has created them to be.

Abby graduated from Trevecca Nazarene University with a degree in Community Development and from Eastern University with a Master’s of Arts in Urban Studies with a Community Development concentration. She completed her master’s thesis on how faith-based nonprofit organizations create cultures of self-care, which fuels her passion for the work she does each day. She specializes in self-care and the Enneagram and walks alongside individuals and organizations on their journeys towards health and wholeness.

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Many years ago I had the wonderful opportunity to walk where Jesus walked as I visited what is often called “the Holy Land.” The trip was everything that a young pastor would want, and my heart and spirit were touched many times by so many things. For the sake of brevity, and to avoid launching into what might turn into boring detail, I won’t list the full itinerary – you’re welcome – but I do want to share one moment in which I caught a quick look at something historically fascinating.

It was a Monday, which is a BIG day at the Western or “Wailing” Wall at the Temple Mount in Jerusalem. Why? Because Monday is bar mitzvah day at that very holy place. And adolescent Jewish boys come from all over the world with family and friends to read from ancient Torah scrolls for the very first time. What a celebration it was! Fathers and uncles carried their sons and nephews on their shoulders as together they danced and sang the songs of Zion.

But there, over in the corner hidden from view, beyond the crowds of chanting men, near where the Torah scrolls were kept, I noticed two or three men looking down a three-foot rectangular hole. Captured by my curiosity, I made my way to the side of the hole, looked into its depths, and asked the others, who fortunately for me spoke English, exactly what it was at which I was looking. One drew close, pointing into the depths, “There, down at the bottom, those are the foundation stones laid in the days of King David.” For a moment I lost my breath, then I was drawn in yet even deeper. Peering into the darkness and faint light below, I saw them, maybe twenty feet down, the huge stones upon which the original Temple had been built and each later holy place that would follow. Those foundation stones seemed so strong, so unshakeable, so unmovable.

I prayed that the foundation stones of my life and ministry would be so strong.

What are foundation stones?

Foundation stones are the big things, of course, the things that drive life and ministry forward. Purpose and values are foundation stones. Calling and depth are foundation stones. So are the quality of relationships and the quality of one’s walk with God. Those types of things are what make the biggest of differences. They change or at least alter who you are and what you do in ministry.

Strong foundation stones will change your church and what it does, how it looks at itself and how it looks at the world.
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Choosing scripture as a foundation is pretty common for both individual Christians and for churches. A statement of mission or purpose can be a foundational piece. In youth ministry an emphasis on the development of spiritual leadership in young people can be foundational. It’s the really big things and ideas!

So why do we get so distracted by smaller, more shallow things?

Why do we get stuck on choosing paint colors and wallpaper?

Why do we get caught up in and distracted by things of lesser value? Why is it that we get so involved in smaller ideas that are surface level, akin to choosing paint colors (or “wallpaper” as Mark DeVries likes to say)?

Unfortunately, we’re human. We want to look good, and we want our ministries to look good. We want to be the coolest, the most “relevant,” the sharpest sounding, the biggest, the flashiest looking.

But…

…sometimes even the biggest and flashiest looking ministries are crumbling from underneath because the foundation may be shallow or poorly formed.
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At Ministry Architects we see that from time to time, and working on the foundation stones is one of the things that we do first.

And…

…sometimes it is the smallest or seemingly poorest ministries that are having the mightiest impact, because they are built on the mightiest of foundations.
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So what can you do, especially if you question your foundation?

If it’s for you personally, start with the spiritual disciplines of Bible study, worship, and prayer. Then seek fellowship with people of depth in faith, share your doubts and your weakness if you really want to grow, if you really want to have a strong foundation.

If you believe that God is calling your church or ministry to do a foundation check, it’s time to bring together a group that can take a good strong look at what is underneath, below the paint and wallpaper, the soul of who you are and who you are becoming.

Conclusion

So look way down deep. Peer into the darkness down at the faint light below to see what is undergirding your ministry. If you want to talk it through, email me at David.carroll@ministryarchitects.com. I would love to spend some time helping you to do that foundation check.

The post Are You Laying Foundation Stones or Choosing Paint Colors? appeared first on Ministry Architects.

• budget
• staffing
• payroll
• volunteers
• visitors
• groups
• facilities

As you look at these church statistics in a comparative light, remember that this data represents an average of hundreds of churches from all across the country. There are many factors that influence why your church looks the way it does and why your numbers may vary. Some of the most common variables are cost of living, complexity of programming, number of programs, number of monthly and yearly events, and church culture. 

ATTENDANCE: How We Count

In terms of attendance, we measure weekend worship attendance as an average. Though your church may have more (or fewer) members on the rolls, the number we use is the average worship attendance over the course of a year. We don’t measure by the number of names in your directory.

Budget

When it comes to financial resources, we are seeing churches invest on average of $1,400 per attendee per year. This includes staff salaries and benefits, as well as the yearly program budget. So, as an example, if a church averages 100 attendees in worship every week, this norm would inform the church ministry budget be at least $140,000 to support maintaining that level of engagement.

Staffing

In terms of people resources, we’ve found that most churches have the equivalent of 1 full-time staff member (40 hours per week) for every 75 people in average total worship attendance. It’s important to keep in mind that churches in an active growth season are typically staffed in the range of 1 full-time equivalent (FTE) for every 86-100 worship attendees. This is usually because churches that are growing are engaging more lay people in the leadership of the church, rather than paying staff members to do most of the work.

Payroll Percentage

As you consider your entire budget, inclusive of all the financial needs of your church, what we’ve learned is that 45-55% tends to support the staff of the church. This percentage includes salaries, benefits, and continuing education. These church statistics also include all staff positions, regardless of title, role, or job type (full-time, part-time, contract, or salary.)

Volunteers

When it comes to volunteers, we’ve discovered 45% of the weekend worship attendees (adults and students, but not children) are serving regularly in a volunteer role. Typically, this number correlates with the amount spent on staffing; the more paid staff a church has, the lower the volunteer percentage becomes, as more of the work is accomplished by paid workers. We define ‘active volunteers’ to include all people who serve at least once a month in any role. This is a count of how many individual people are serving, not how many volunteer roles are in the church. If 10 people hold 20 volunteer roles, there are 10 volunteers in your church.

Visitor Retention

For the average church, between 10-30% of first-time visitors have the potential to become consistent attendees. This means that, church statistics wise, for every 10 new people who enter your church doors, most likely you’ll only see one, two, or three again. Conversely, if a church sets a goal to grow by 100 people in a single year, that church will need to see at least 300 first-time guests in that year. Also impacting this conversion rate is the effectiveness of your hospitality and guest follow-up systems.

Involvement in Groups

While data for what’s normal for churches in group involvement is hard to quantify, there are a few targets worth noting. It’s been observed that healthy churches have at least 40-50% of their adult attendance in some form of small groups; great churches have upwards of 80% small group participation. For this measure, we’re defining any groups that serve as some kind of ‘micro community’. That includes groups like a men’s Bible study, a young adult Sunday school class, and discipleship huddles.

Facilities

A church’s ministry is also impacted by the physical layout of its campus and the benefits (or constraints) therein. Two specific features of facilities are particularly noteworthy when churches are looking to see growth: parking spaces and seating capacity.

• Parking Spaces: Most churches need one parking space for every 1.66 attendees (or 3 spaces for every 5 people). If you count your current number of parking spaces then multiply that by 1.66, you’ll find the maximum number of people who can attend a single service in your church. Of course, this number may be very different in certain contexts where walking or public transportation options are more readily accessed.
• Seating Capacity: Most church services will simply stop growing once the worship center is 80% full on a regular basis. While something may be done to push the attendance higher for a season, it will likely settle back around 80%.

One way to continue to add capacity in both parking and seating is to add additional worship services prior to making any physical changes to the campus. As a church adds services, it’s also important to keep in mind that a 2nd service will typically reach 80% of the amount of the first service and a third service will typically reach 60% of the first service.

What’s next?

First: Consider + Converse

As you consider this information, look for the places where your church differs from the national average and invite your church leaders into a conversation about those variations. Here are some questions you might want to ask:

• Why do we vary? 
  • Is there more than one reason?
• Do we want to change?
  • If so, do we feel equipped to change?
• What specific steps do we need to take?
  • And who will be responsible for those steps?
• Do we need help?
  • What kind of help do we need?

Second: Connect with Ministry Architects.

If you’ve seen something you would like to talk more about or if you have questions about moving your church from where you are to where you want to be, we’d love to know! Just send an email to info@ministryarchitects.com and one of our consultants will contact you.

The post Church-Wide Norms appeared first on Ministry Architects.

In youth ministry, we work with four different norms:

• Attendance
• Staffing
• Budget
• Volunteers

As you look at these numbers and compare them to your church’s numbers, remember that this data represents an average of hundreds of churches from all across the country. There are many factors that influence why your church looks the way it does and why your numbers may vary. Some of the most common variables are cost of living, complexity of programming, number of programs, number of monthly and yearly events, and church culture. 

ATTENDANCE: How We Count

We define ‘youth’ to include all young people who are in middle school through high school. To help you understand how we count the number of engaged youth, consider this example of Made Up Church. The weekly youth attendance of Made Up Church includes the following numbers:

– 20 youth each Sunday in Youth Group
– 35 youth each Wednesday in small groups
– 15 youth each Sunday sit in worship but don’t participate in any other program

At Ministry Architects, we like to count unique faces. That means, if a youth goes to youth group and is in a small group every week – they only count once. Not twice. And if a youth only attends worship, but hasn’t yet attended youth group or small group, they, too, count. So, any youth who participates in the life of the church in some way is included in this number. But we only count them once, no matter how many times they are at the church in a given week.

ATTENDANCE: What “should” our youth attendance be?

When considering “what’s normal,” in terms of how many youth are involved in the life of your church, the average number we have seen is 10% of the worshipping congregation. This means that the best youth ministry statistics say that for every 100 weekly worshippers, you should have around 10 youth participating in the life of the church in some way.

VOLUNTEERS: How many volunteers are involved in the average church’s youth ministry?

This norm has stood the test of time. Over the years, we have consistently seen an average of one adult volunteer for every five youth involved in the church in some way.

STAFFING: How many paid staff are devoted to youth ministry?

Churches typically hire the equivalent of one full-time staff person for every 50 youth involved in the church in some way. Staffing configurations can take on different forms. But we count the average number of staff hours the church is investing in youth ministry.

BUDGET: What’s the average financial investment for a youth ministry?

Budget numbers have increased over the years with churches reporting, on average, that they are investing $1,500 per youth per year. This number includes staff salaries and benefits as well as the entire program budget for the year. So, if you have 50 youth participating in the life of the church in some way, this norm would inform the youth ministry budget be at least $75,000 to support maintaining that level of engagement.

What’s next?

If you’ve seen something you would like to talk more about or if you have questions about moving your church from where you are to where you want to be, we’d love to know! Just send an email to info@ministryarchitects.com and one of our consultants will contact you.

The post Youth Ministry Norms appeared first on Ministry Architects.

In children’s ministry, we work with four different norms:

• Attendance
• Staffing
• Budget
• Volunteers

As you look at these numbers and compare them to your church’s numbers, remember that this data represents an average of hundreds of churches from all across the country. There are many factors that influence why your church looks the way it does and why your numbers may vary. Some of the most common variables are cost of living, complexity of programming, number of programs, number of monthly and yearly events, and church culture.

ATTENDANCE: How We Count

We define ‘child’ to include all young people who are newborns through elementary ages. To help you understand how we count the number of children engaged, consider this example of Made Up Church. The weekly children’s attendance of Made Up Church includes the following numbers:

– 20 children each Sunday in Sunday school
– 35 children each Wednesday in children’s choir practice
– 15 children each Sunday sit in worship with their families but don’t participate in any other program

At Ministry Architects, we like to count unique faces. That means, if a child goes to Sunday school and children’s choir every week – they only count once. Not twice. And if a child only attends worship, but hasn’t yet attended Sunday school or children’s choir, they, too, count. So, any child who participates in the life of the church in some way is included in this number. But we only count them once, no matter how many times they are at the church in a given week.

ATTENDANCE: What “should” our children’s attendance be?

When considering “what’s normal,” the average number we have seen is 15% of the worshipping congregation. Therefore, for every 100 weekly worshippers, the average church has around 15 children participating in the life of the church in some way. In determining these children’s ministry statistics, we have seen percentages as low as 7% and as high as 35%. But in reviewing current numbers with recent clients’ churches, the average still settles around 15%.

VOLUNTEERS: How many volunteers are involved in the average church’s children’s ministry?

We know that every responsible children’s ministry has ratio targets that are different for each age group. However, we found that the best way for us to name a national norm is to look at the overall volunteer ratio for children from birth through elementary grades. Because churches use different rotation models, we standardized this for our children’s ministry statistics by looking at the average number of volunteers serving during any given week. That means that whether volunteers are serving once a month or once a week didn’t impact this number. We were simply looking at volunteer attendance numbers and children’s attendance numbers. On average, churches are seeing one volunteer for every five children attending each week. 

STAFFING: How many paid staff are devoted to children’s ministry?

The current trend we’re seeing is that churches are investing more in their children’s ministry staff than they have, historically. The average ratio of staff to children across the country is the equivalent of one full-time staff member for every 70 children.

BUDGET: What’s the average financial investment for a children’s ministry?

Budget numbers have increased by about 10% as well. Currently, churches are reporting, on average, that they are investing $1,100 per child per year. This number doesn’t include paid nursery workers or babysitters, but it does include staff salaries and benefits as well as the entire program budget for the year. So if you have 50 children participating in the life of the church in some way, this norm would inform the children’s ministry budget be at least $55,000 to support maintaining that level of engagement.

What’s next?

If you’ve seen something you would like to talk more about or if you have questions about moving your church from where you are to where you want to be, we’d love to know! Just send an email to info@ministryarchitects.com and one of our consultants will contact you.

The post Children’s Ministry Norms appeared first on Ministry Architects.

An inquisitive visiting parent once asked me a good question during the holiday season, “I can tell that you have a strong children’s ministry just by the number of children involved, but what can you tell me about the depth of your ministry? How do you evaluate what is happening with children from the perspective of spiritual development?”

Well, no doubt this lady fell into the realm of being a precocious parent if there ever was one, and in the next two minutes of “winging it,” I gave some sort of vague, generalized answer that I hoped would be satisfying to her. But I knew it wasn’t really, and I found myself embarrassed that I didn’t have a better answer to give her.

So the next month I took the question up with my Children’s Ministry Team (CMT). “How do we know how effectively and how deeply our ministry is working in the lives of our children? And if we don’t know, how can we effectively measure those particular things?”

Of course, we tend to greatly overestimate the effect of our ministries, i.e. until we realize that one of our own children, who we thought was singing the hymn “Gladly the Cross I’d Bear” was thinking in her mind that she was singing “Gladly, the Cross-Eyed Bear.”

Maybe we have some work to do …

Ways to Evaluate What’s Happening

Measure through levels of participation. We gain some sense of our ministries’ effectiveness through measuring levels of active involvement. For example, you might expect that the minimal level of involvement is expressed in the participation of children who accompany their parents who are participating in worship. But then children who participate in an additional Sunday School experience might be on an involvement level that is a bit deeper. Many of us make assumptions about children based on their involvement levels, and we also make assumptions about our ministries based on the participation at these various involvement levels without really defining what those levels are. That is a dangerous thing and may mean nothing more than the fact that we have a whole chorus of children singing “Gladly, the Cross-Eyed Bear.” But it’s a start.

Measure through milestone proficiencies. While there are no “standardized tests” for church children, there are other ways that we can measure their depth of experience. One is by incorporating milestone proficiencies into their curriculum. For a very simple example let’s take the Lord’s Prayer, which most churches incorporate somewhere into their church life. Ask the question, “At what age would we want every child to know the Lord’s Prayer?” If the answer is that you want each child to know the Lord’s Prayer by age five, then you can identify a spot in the four-year-old curriculum that you would want the Lord’s Prayer to be taught. Or you might ask, “At what age would we want our children to know the Apostles Creed?” or “When would we want our children to know the books of the Bible?” And while this is a much more complex question, you might even ask “By what age would we hope our children/youth have made a profession of faith?” There are many more questions to ask. The good thing is that your own CMT can address this and conclude where God is leading your church and ministry as they work with God’s precious children.

Answers to all of these questions will vary from one tradition to another and from one church to another, but it is very important that you not simply assume that these milestones are being met by some sort of spiritual osmosis if you are not addressing them through curriculum planning.

Measure through effective transitions. Another way of evaluating is by examining how well your ministry is receiving and passing off children as they enter and age out of your ministry. As classes of children enter your ministry, are the groups growing or dwindling? And as they enter youth ministry, have you prepared them well with strong proficiencies and encouragement as they ready for this next big step? Some comparisons with leaders of age-adjacent departments might give you valuable feedback about how your ministry is doing.

Make Sure to Pay Attention to…

… seeing each child clearly. Each individual is different, each comes at their own level of spiritual maturity, each comes with his or her own needs, each comes at a different level of feeling loved, affirmed, and accepted. Helping children to attain certain milestone proficiencies does not mean that we do less to fully engage them in loving relationship. As much as they need to know about the Bible, they first need to know that their ministry leaders love them and, through healthy, loving human relationships, that God loves them.

… taking child development principles into account. In developing milestone proficiency targets, ministry leaders must take developmental principles into account, for instance, recognizing that concrete examples are critically important for younger children and that abstract concepts will only be appropriate for older elementary children at best. See Jim Fowler’s Stages of Faith for a thorough discussion of age appropriate concepts.

… encouraging children at all stages of spiritual development. Some children will, of course, reach milestone proficiencies more quickly than others, but all must be equally encouraged and affirmed. The last thing we would want to happen would be that in the course of evaluating and improving our ministries we might discourage or, even worse, injure a youngster who is looking to us to tell them the story of Jesus, the one who took children upon his knee and blessed them.

Conclusion

No, there aren’t any children’s ministry standardized tests, but that doesn’t mean that we cannot evaluate our ministries or assess the spiritual progress of our children. It just takes a little time, thought, and prayer, as well as the determination to do what it takes to be the ministries that God has called us to be and do.

If you want to talk more about milestone proficiencies as measurable markers, contact me at david.carroll@ministryarchitects.com. I’d love to bat some ideas around with you!

The post Evaluating Your Ministry in the New Year with Measurable Markers appeared first on Ministry Architects.

In all reality, my friends and colleagues in ministry are some of the busiest and most exhausted people I know. How did we get here? Better yet, how do we get back to a rhythm of Sabbath and living a life to the full? The answers to these questions are not difficult to understand, but they are difficult to live out.

I struggle with Sabbath as much as anyone. I like to work and be productive. As an achiever at heart, stopping and resting are not things I do particularly well. However, like many of you I’m ready to get off the hamster wheel of business and anxiety. I’m still learning, but below you will find four ingredients that I’ve found necessary to sabbath-ing well. If you’re tired of the crazy pace and looking for a reprieve (or just know you need one), keep reading.

To explore the ingredients necessary for the making of a healthy Sabbath, we will be using the acrostic REST.  Let’s take a look at each ingredient and some examples of how this might look in your life.

Replenish

Enjoy

Stop

Trust

1. REPLENISH

The first ingredient to healthy Sabbath is taking the time to replenish. Ministry is tough. Leading people can be difficult. Managing conflict is never fun. And all the work we do seems to run in an endless cycle of Sunday’s and Wednesday’s. Perhaps the greatest reason ministry is tough though is that ministry is all about pouring out.

Ministering to the people God has entrusted to us requires the pouring out of ourselves emotionally, spiritually, and sometimes physically. Here’s the problem though, if we always pour out into others and never take the time to fill back up, we are headed for empty. One the other side of empty you’ll find burnout and depression. Too many of us are running on or dangerously close to empty.

That’s why the first ingredient to a healthy Sabbath is to replenish and refill your cup. What are the things that replenish and refill you emotionally, spiritually, and physically? Begin by making a list of these things, and then do what it takes to make them a part of your Sabbath rhythm.

For me, replenishing takes on some of the following looks. Sleeping in replenishes me physically. Hitting the gym or reading a book helps me to replenish emotionally. Spiritual replenishment comes through reading scripture, taking times of solitude, or watching a sermon that someone else prepared for.

So what about you? What things replenish spiritually, emotionally, and physically? Make a list, and then make them a part of your Sabbath.

2. ENJOY

The second ingredient to a healthy Sabbath is enjoying yourself. While the items on this list may overlap at times with the things that replenish you, this is not always the case. Things that you enjoy will make you happy and energize you, but can also require an expenditure of emotional or physical energy. These things may not look like rest traditionally, but they help tend to the health of your soul.

For some this comes easy, while others may find it more difficult. Often times, I find that pastors and church leaders struggle to find and keep healthy hobbies. Why? I believe many of us feel almost guilty for stopping and enjoying ourselves when there is so much Kingdom work to be done. However, if we don’t learn to stop and enjoy ourselves, we will become far less effective for the Kingdom in the long run.

It’s vital to find the right things to put on your Sabbath enjoyment list. If your struggling, here are a few of mine: golfing, kayaking, watching movies, amusement parks, and spending a day with my family. Some of these can leave me physically or mentally tired, but they definitely fill my cup and energize my soul.

So what about you? What energizes you and should be on your Sabbath enjoyment list? Take some time to think about this and write them down. Learning to enjoy yourself is a vital part of a healthy Sabbath.

3. STOP

This one is simple in theory and excruciating in practice. I don’t believe taking a Sabbath means being legalistic about doing nothing. However, I do believe it requires us to stop doing the things we regularly do for work and ministry. What good does it do you to replenish yourself with rest and a day of things you enjoy if you check your email and respond to texts regarding ministry all day?

To be fully transparent, this is the most difficult part for me. Unplugging completely and ceasing to do the work of ministry is a struggle. But if I don’t learn to stop the work of ministry, I’ll never be able to experience rest.

So what does it mean to stop? Simply put, on your Sabbath you cease doing all things that are a part of your daily ministry. Stop checking email, returning phone calls, writing sermons, and thinking about the ministry problem you just can’t seem to solve. This may sound crazy, but I promise all of those things will still be there tomorrow.

If you’re like me though, you may want to attempt to Sabbath while keeping your toes in the water of ministry. The problem is that’s incompatible with Sabbath. Why? When we can’t stop the work of ministry, it’s because we can’t trust God to get it done without us. Which brings us to the last ingredient.

4. TRUST

If you’re reading this blog, it’s likely you love God deeply and want others to experience His love. You were called to give your life to ministry, and you love helping people. These are great and Godly things that only the Holy Spirit can write into you story. However, be careful that you don’t pursue your calling to the point of forgetting your faith.

Faith is where it started. We put our faith in God’s love and the gift of His Son, and we’ve never been the same. The same faith that made us come alive though is the same faith we need to sustain us. God didn’t call us to trust him only at salvation, but throughout our days. And it is this faith, this trust, that is at the heart of true Sabbath.

If God is strong enough to save us and create the universe, then He’s strong enough to continue His work without us for a day. If He is wise enough to lead us daily, then He is wise enough to keep leading while we take a day off. When we stop, replenish, and enjoy ourselves one day a week, it actually builds our faith and honors God!

On the flip side, when we can’t take a day off and practice the art of Sabbath it is because we don’t fully trust Him. Our inability to Sabbath is at its heart a trust issue. Nothing more and nothing less.

If you’ve read this article with a desire to Sabbath but an internal doubt that you can, please let me encourage you. You can Sabbath well, because you can trust God. When you take the time to Sabbath, He will come through for you again like He has so many times before.

So what are you waiting for? Will you be willing to take the step of faith to insert a healthy Sabbath rhythm in to your life and ministry? I pray the answer is “yes.” As you take the Sabbath ingredients of replenishment, enjoyment, stopping, and trust, I pray God fills your sails with new wind and new life. Amen.

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Most things are better when they are in rhythm. This is true for music and dancing, and it’s just as true for life and youth ministry! You see, the truth is that everything in life has a rhythm, and finding the right rhythm is a requirement for success and satisfaction.

When your ministry is in rhythm, everything seems to work right. It sounds good, looks good, and feels good! On the other hand, ministry looks and feels more like a train wreck when it’s out of rhythm.

When it comes to effective ministry, rhythm matters. Every successful ministry has it, and those that sustain success over time are the ministries that have kept it. Finding the right rhythm is key to success and fulfillment in your ministry.

A ministry that lacks rhythm will feel forced and mechanical, while a ministry that’s out of rhythm will just feel a little off. However, a ministry that has found a healthy rhythm will feel just right! Doing ministry in the right rhythm is like living in a ministry goldilocks zone, and it feels a lot like how we imagined it when God first called us to it.

In over a decade of youth ministry, I’ve experienced both the pain of being out of rhythm and the exhilaration of doing ministry with it. Finding a healthy rhythm changed everything for me, even though it feels like a real life game of red light, green light. I’ve found three beats to a successful ministry rhythm for myself that I want to share with you, and my prayer is that they will help you find rhythm in your context as well.

Beat #1: GREEN LIGHT

Run hard and fast after goals. This is the part of the ministry rhythm where we are relentless about going after our goals and God given dreams. There is a time to lead under a green light and go fast, and this is it!

I’ve found that talking about goals in ministry makes some leaders uncomfortable because it feels too much like business. This shouldn’t be the case though. Goals are simply dreams with plans and deadlines attached. God is the dream giver and has given us all dreams in our hearts. Great leaders know there is a time to go ambitiously after these goals.

That’s exactly what this beat of the rhythm is: a time to go fast and and hard after your dreams and desires for your ministry. The green light beat of the ministry rhythm is all about a furious pursuit of the what. What is God calling you to do? What dreams has He placed in your heart to run hard after.

Beat #2: YELLOW LIGHT

Walk slowly through the crowd. This is the part of the ministry rhythm where we slow down from the hustle to focus on the people. It’s a time to shift our focus from what we are doing to who we are serving.

It’s all too easy to get busy doing ministry for God and forget the people we are ministering to. The yellow light beat is all about taking time to slow down and be intentional about the who. This is the beat of the rhythm that resets our focus on people. How much time are spending walking slowly through the crowd?

Beat #3: RED LIGHT

Rest religiously. This is the part of the ministry rhythm where we stop. It’s where we rest. It’s where we sabbath. This is vital, because if we don’t take the time to stop, ministry will eventually stop us! Ministry workers and pastors who skip this beat will end up being spit out and burnt out by the ministry machine.

Whether it’s your day off, regular vacations, sabbaticals, or an off site work day to focus, it’s important to fight for these times to stop and rest! This is the hardest part of the ministry rhythm for me. I love to go and struggle to stop and rest! The problem is that sustained success can only come with regular periods of rest.

We are at our best and most creative in ministry when we take time to intentionally slow down and rest. This beat is all about charging your ministry battery. What about you? Are you making time to rest and recharge?

Finding the right rhythm is key to effective ministry. My rhythm is to run hard after goals, walk slowly through the crowd, and rest religiously. What’s your best rhythm?

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